WELL LET, LET ME GET OFF THAT SUBJECT AND GO ON… YOU DID REALLY DEVELOP A VERY PERSONAL AND CLOSE RELATIONSHIP WITH DR. KING, UH, TELL US YOUR ANNIVERSARY STORY AS AN EXAMPLE.

Chief Laurie Pritchett:

Well, you know uh, people looked upon us as being on two sides of the street - that we were enemies, which we never were. I respected Dr. King, Dr. King respected me - we had a, a mutual understanding of each other. Uh, for an example - we'd been in the Civil Rights Movement for some time, we'd been in a lot of turmoil in Albany, a lot of tension; we were being housed in the hotels. I hadn't been home in three or four weeks. One day I was in a conference with Dr. King and Reverend Abernathy uh, my secretary brought a telegram in uh, opened it and read it, and evidently I must have showed some sign of distress. Dr. King says - what's wrong Chief Pritchett? And I said, well, I just handed him the telegram, and he said - do you mean this is your anniversary? It was from my wife wishing me a happy anniversary. I said - that's right. He says - you go home, take your wife out to dinner, enjoy yourself, nothing would happen in Albany, Georgia today or tonight - in the morning at 8 o'clock, we'll take up where we leave off. I went home, had a nice anniversary, come back the next morning, and we presumed our uh, battles.